Wheee fun

'Tis the weekend, snow is finally predicted (3-5 inches), which is perfect weather to snuggle up with a good book/movie with a cuppa and just chill.

Next week is Thanksgiving for us Yanks, though I don't think my family, such as it is, is doing anything for it. And I'm not cooking a turkey with all the goo just for me and the kid. She doesn't like turkey anyway and always spent t-giving picking the marshmallows off the sweet potatoes and biding her time until pumpkin pie time. Me, I devour all of the sweet pickles and black olives so that I'm too full for turkey. Sweet pickles and olives are a sort of family tradition and it's about the only time I eat either of those things, though I do love them. Anyway, I'm just not feeling festive this year at all. Christmas - bah. Not humbug, just bah. Seems like such a hassle, and frankly if I didn't have to make it special for the kid, I wouldn't bother with it. But she does love the traditions I've tried to keep up with over the years. Christmas has been hard for me ever since my father died. He went on December 21, 1992. I think that was the worst xmas of my life.

I used to love it though. My family did a lot of little things every year that made it such fun. We'd decorate for it the day after Thanksgiving, My mom gave my sister and me a special ornament that represented something cool that had happened during the year... My sister and I would speculate on the presents.. Dad would take us shopping to buy mom's annual presents of Red perfume and the new edition of Writers Market. Then on xmas eve we'd bother the hell out of dad by asking over and over if we could just open one present before bed. He always said no. When we were younger we'd do the cookies for santa thing. Then we'd lay awake all night doing some more speculating and resisting the urge to go and peek. When we woke the 'rents up at the crack of dawn, we'd ohhh and ahhh at the 'Santa' gifts, and then Mom would have doughnuts or make french toast or something adn we'd settle in for a whole morning of slow present opening. We always doled them out, then took turns opening so that we could watch reactions. It took forever but it was so much fun.

I miss that.